Citibank to focus on mass card market

Voralak Tulaphorn, managing director for the cards business, said yesterday that the bank wanted to strengthen its presence in the mainstream cardholder segment, which is the largest in the country.
The perception of customers is that Citibank is a premium card issuer, so the bank has to focus more on those earning Bt15,000-Bt40,000 a month, she said.
The monthly spending of middle-market cardholders is Bt8,000-Bt10,000 compared to Bt30,000 for high-end cardholders.
Citibank will partner with more allies.
It already issues five co-branded credit cards including the latest with Big C Supercenter.
The spending per month of co-branded cards exceeds Bt10,000, which is regarded as high, because the bank and its partners offer more benefits than competitors, Voraluk said.
Citibank has 1.2 million cards outstanding, of which 40-50 per cent are co-branded. The numerous outlets of Big C could help increase cardholders in the mass segment. The bank aims to open 100,000 accounts for the Citi-Big C Visa Platinum credit card annually.
Citibank this year aims to issue 300,000 new cards, of which 75 per cent will be for mainstream customers.
Total spending on Citibank credit cards this year is expected to grow by 15 per cent from Bt10 billion, Voraluk said.